A jury
convicted the Petitioner, John Moffitt, of reckless
aggravated assault, and the trial court sentenced him to four
years of incarceration. The Petitioner appealed, and this
court affirmed his conviction and sentence. State v. John
Moffitt, No. W2014-02388-CCA-R3-CD, 2016 WL 369379, at
*1 (Tenn. Crim. App., at Jackson, Jan. 29, 2016), perm.
app. denied (Tenn. June 24, 2016). The Petitioner filed
a petition for post-conviction relief, alleging that he had
received the ineffective assistance of counsel. After a
hearing, the post-conviction court denied the petition. On
appeal, we affirm the post-conviction court's judgment.

Robert
W. Wedemeyer, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in
which James Curwood Witt, Jr., and Timothy L. Easter, JJ.
joined.

OPINION

ROBERT
W. WEDEMEYER, JUDGE

I.
Facts

A.
Trial

This
case arises from the Petitioner's using a pocketknife to
cut and injure the victim. On direct appeal, we summarized
the facts presented at the Petitioner's trial as follows:

On May 16, 2013, Stephen Phelps, the victim in this case, was
doing repair work for landowner Charles McPeake on a fence
and outbuilding that had been damaged in a storm. At
approximately 4:00 p.m., Mr. Phelps began loading his tools
into his truck. Mr. Phelps "heard two people kind of
being loud with each other[.]" He turned around and saw
[the Petitioner] and Orbin McPeake arguing about the fence.
Mr. Phelps approached the men and told [the Petitioner] to
"[c]hill out" because they were going to repair the
fence. [The Petitioner] told Mr. Phelps to put the fence back
up, and Mr. Phelps told [the Petitioner] to "[j]ust go
on home." [The Petitioner] turned around to leave and
then turned back towards Mr. Phelps. Mr. Phelps testified,
"as he was doing that, I saw him reach into his pocket
and he pulled out a pocket knife and he opened it up, and he
says, 'well maybe you want some of this before I
leave[.]'" [The Petitioner] swung the knife across
Mr. Phelps body and back across his body a second time. Mr.
Phelps raised his arm to block it, and on the second swing
across his body, "it sunk in [his] arm [.]" [The
Petitioner] "just turned and walked away[.]" Mr.
Phelps "could not believe that it happened." He
wrapped up his arm and drove to the hospital. Mr. Phelps
testified that he could not use his arm for approximately
four months. He testified that he still had numbness in one
of his fingers and pain in his shoulder. He was unable to
perform certain tasks as well as he could prior to the
injury.

On cross-examination, Mr. Phelps testified that he had only
seen [the Petitioner] once before the incident. He testified
that the fence had been taken down for approximately one
month prior to the incident while he worked to repair the
barn. Mr. Phelps testified that he took one or two steps
towards [the Petitioner] after [the Petitioner] pulled out
the knife.

Orbin McPeake testified that he had known [the Petitioner]
for "[a] long time." He testified that on the day
of the incident, [the Petitioner] "just came out there
and jumped on us and told us we needed to get that fence put
up by 4:00 or something like that[.]" Mr. McPeake told
[the Petitioner] that they were working to "get
everything cleaned up." Mr. McPeake testified that he
saw [the Petitioner] and Mr. Phelps "in each other's
face[s], and Mr. Phelps told [the Petitioner] he needed to go
home[.]" Mr. McPeake saw [the Petitioner] reach into his
pocket, and he saw [the Petitioner] and Mr. Phelps
"arguing right close together and [Mr. McPeake] was
trying to get them to go home and be quiet and let everything
go, and they just kept arguing." Mr. McPeake testified
that he "d[id]n't think [Mr. Phelps] was really
threatening [the Petitioner]. He was just talking and telling
him that we was gonna fix that back and that wasn't none
of his business." Mr. McPeake heard Mr. Phelps tell [the
Petitioner] to go home. Mr. McPeake testified [the
Petitioner] and Mr. Phelps "met together." He
testified, "I don't know where they one of them run
any more at the other one than one did it at the other one
[sic]."

William Patterson was also present during the incident. He
testified that "Mr. Phelps went to walking over there
towards [the Petitioner], and that's when he run his hand
in his pocket and came out and cut him." Mr. Patterson
testified that he did not hear Mr. Phelps make any threats
against [the Petitioner].

Donna Heatherington, a criminal investigator with the
Lexington Police Department, spoke to Mr. Phelps at the
hospital and took photographs of his injury. She also took
statements from Mr. Patterson and Mr. McPeake. Officer
Heatherington arrested [the Petitioner] at his residence. She
testified that she knocked on [the Petitioner]'s door,
and [the Petitioner] "hollered, 'Come on in. I know
why you're here.'" She asked [the Petitioner] to
empty his pockets, and [the Petitioner] had a pocketknife in
his right pocket. Officer Heatherington testified that [the
Petitioner]'s hand was injured when she put handcuffs on
him.

[The Petitioner]'s brother, Sam Moffitt, testified that
Mr. McPeake told him after the incident that [the Petitioner]
turned around to leave, and Mr. Phelps jumped on him, and
that's what caused the altercation. Mr. Moffitt testified
that Mr. McPeake told him, "If [Mr. Phelps] had just sat
still and let [the Petitioner] go on, none of this would have
happened." On cross-examination, Mr. Moffit clarified
what he meant by "jumped on." He testified,
"Well, I don't mean physically jumped on him, but he
said, 'I'm ...

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